The Non-Consumer Advocate

The loss of my Hydro Flask insulated water bottle was an inconvenient annoyance, (you can read about it HERE) but my experience has been that Goodwills are consistently crowded with used replacement options. This is the selection from the one Seattle Goodwill that my husband and I walked past yesterday.

Plastic, metal, ceramic, glass — every option was available! The central premise of reusable water bottles is so people can own just one or two without the need for excessive belongings. Yet they’re overmanufactured like any other consumer product.

Luckily, this brand new looking Hydro Flask bottle was available for the low price of $5.99 plus tax!

Here’s how much it’s listed for on the official Hydro Flask website:

I’ll give it a thorough sanitizing clean once I’m back home, but until then I deem this a win!

One last thought  — The Mariner’s baseball team promotes its environmentally sustainable practices, yet only allows single use plastic water bottles within their stadium. Smells like “greenwashing!”

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”

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1. 1. My husband and I stopped at a random Dollar Tree on our way to Seattle to pick up some $1.25 snacks. I was going for a “baseball” theme as we had tickets for the Yankees vs. Mariner’s game that night. I also grabbed a backup pair of reading glasses and a sleeve of crackers to bring back home.

      

   2. I mixed the “salt and vinegar” peanuts in a bag with the pretzels and Baby Ruth bars for our game day snacks. Really good as it created “salt and vinegar” pretzels!

      

   3. The people in front of us left halfway through the game, and I realized afterwards that their sealed fruit and cheese snack plate had fallen out of their bag. I contorted myself down and grabbed it for myself.

      Home run for Katy!

      

   4. I didn’t realize that metal water bottles are banned in the baseball stadium, so I had to give up my nice Hydro Flask bottle, even though it was empty. We were a full mile from the car, so there was no way we could just walk it back. I hid it behind a planter across the street, but it was long gone by the time the game was over. I can likely thrift another one, but it’s still a bummer.

      Cue sad music. Maybe Julio Iglesia’s “To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before.”

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”

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1. I want to watch the second season of Apple TV’s Severance, but feel the need to rewatch season one to refresh my memory. My goal is to binge season two within the borders of a 7-day free trial, which would be a stretch were I to watch both seasons. Instead I put the first season on hold through my library and now have a full three weeks to catch myself up before starting a subscription.

2. I hosted my kids, mother and step-father for Mother’s Day and served a fairly simple meal of salmon, homemade bread, rice, broccoli and ice cream for dessert. It wasn’t a crazy cheap meal, but it was certainly less expensive than any restaurant meal would’ve been. My husband had to work, but I made sure to save leftovers for him.

3. I printed a 8″ X 8″ photo collage for my mother using a 50%-off Walgreen’s digital coupon. It’s perfect for her fridge and features her with each of her four grandkids, plus my sister and I. The total cost was $2.24.

4. My husband and I are planning a three day trip to Seattle to celebrate his birthday and I’m researching fun things to do that won’t break the bank. Our hotel and Mariner’s baseball tickets are a splurge, so I hoping to balance it out with some cheap food and activities. My sister’s family lived in Seattle for a few years while her now ex-husband was in grad school, so I’m pretty familiar with the city, but I want to find a discover a new thing or two.

   I’ll accept any and all suggestions!

5. I’m not decimating the nation’s safety net to enrich my morally bankrupt friends and family.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”

Click HERE to follow The Non-Consumer Advocate on Instagram.
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1. I took my kitchen knife to a free Repair PDX event and got it professionally sharpened by a volunteer, which felt like magic. (Normally costs around $10 per knife.) They also had volunteers fixing small appliances, bicycles and even mending clothing. The event was like a big jolly party and I’ll definitely be returning.

   I’ve been aware of Repair PDX for awhile, but this was my first time to attend one of their events. I love how there are always new frugal hacks to slip into my bag of tricks!

   Click HERE to see all their events and resources.

   

2. My daughter’s old roommate abandoned a bag of dry cat food, which I brought home and mixed into our regular cat food. I did feed a small amount to 16-year-old Zelda to make sure she liked the brand, but she gobbled it up, so I called it good.

3. I walked my plastics recycling to New Season’s Market instead of paying $14+ per month to Ridwell for bespoke recycling. It may be convenient to have porch pickup, but Ikea takes lightbulbs, city curbside now takes batteries and there’s an annual neighborhood event that’ll take styrofoam.

4. My daughter’s old roommate stole her vacuum cleaner when she moved out, which is a annoyance. However, I have a thrifted Black and Decker rechargeable vacuum that’s just missing the charging cord. (Leftover from when my youngest was in college.) I looked on Amazon to investigate buying a new cord, but instead put in a request in my Buy Nothing group to see if anyone has one laying around. One group member thought he did and is going to get back to me. Crossing fingers!

5. I didn’t accept a $400 million jet from Qatar to use as my own personal Air Force One.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”

Click HERE to follow The Non-Consumer Advocate on Instagram.
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1. My minivan has been making a horrendous rattling noise over the past few months and neither my husband nor I had been able to figure out the cause. I finally took it to Les Schwab this morning, thinking it was a suspension or shocks issue and had already decided that I wouldn’t get upset as long as the repair was under a thousand dollars. It was . . . a pair of loose bolts which they didn’t charge us for. People, I’ve been actively angry with this noise since at least January! Whew . . .

   

2. Les Schwab has free popcorn and espresso drinks, so I brought along a ziptop bag and travel mug. I grabbed my free bag of popcorn when I dropped the car off and another one when I picked it up. I also made myself a half mochaccino/half regular coffee drink, which I drank while walking home from the mechanic. I was willing to spend $1000, but I’ll also accept the free treats!

   

3. I accompanied my friend Lise to an historic nursery open house last night, which was interesting and educational. I’d never heard of this business before, even though it’s been around forever. They had refreshments, which meant cookies and a beer for me. The Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden no longer has free or even pay what you will hours, so this garden tour scratched my itch to walk through a beautiful garden.

4. My husband casually asked this morning if we’d paid our Arts Tax, which prompted an immediate uh oh feeling, as I’d completely spaced out this completely not optional Portland tax! It’s only $35 per person, but I’m always the person to take care of it. What’s worse is that I’d offered to pay it for the kids and there was a $15 late fee per person! Oh well . . . $60 has now been paid in late fees, but at least it’s taken care of and I’ll be sure to pay it in 2026. Crap!

5. I found three 10¢ returnable bottles and cans while walking to and from Les Schwab.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”

Click HERE to follow The Non-Consumer Advocate on Instagram.
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1. My husband and I spent more time than expected to work on reinstalling a pot rack that fell off our daughter’s kitchen wall. I was starving by the end, which activated my cranky mode. I even started researching places to grab a bite, which turned out to be more mentally draining than simply making dinner. Instead I had my husband drop me at home to start the meal while he ran to Home Depot to grab extra supplies.

   Luckily I still had a Costco rotisserie chicken and most of a bag of potatoes, which made for an easy and satisfying dinner of chicken, mashed potatoes and peas. I even had a jar of turkey gravy from the Winco clearance section. Perfect comfort meal for a uncomforted Katy.

2. I gave a WWII historical fiction book a second chance after initially putting it down due to a glaring historical inaccuracy. The main character is described in the beginning as such:

   “Juliet had found solace in books. Her friends had been Anne of Green Gables and Alice in Wonderland, her adventures in Narnia and The Secret garden.”

   Umm . . . The Narnia books are set during WWII, so Juliet certainly wouldn’t have read them as a child. (The Pevensie siblings are sent out of London due to The Blitz!) The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe was published in 1950, decidedly post-war. However, a good friend highly recommended the book, so I’m giving it a go.

3. I sat down with my ballot and the voter’s pamphlet and made my choices for the May 20th State election. Oregon has been 100% vote by mail since 1998 and I believe that it every citizen’s responsibility to vote in each and every election, even the less dramatic ones. I know we’re nowhere near the deadline to turn in our ballots, but I’d rather get it done now and not worry that I could possibly forget this important task.

   I’ll drop my ballot at the county library this afternoon.

4. • I continue to give driving lessons to my daughter and she even drove with an extra passenger yesterday, which was a milestone.
   • My husband and I continue to watch a couple episodes of ER most nights through my parents’ HBO account.
   • I continue to wear my thrifted wardrobe without issue.
   • I continue to cook in my off-trend Formica counter kitchen.
   • I continue to clean my carpets using the vacuum cleaner I bought in 2001.
   • I continue to drive our twenty-year-old minivan, even though it’s thoroughly scratched up.
   • I continue to be content with our lesser belongings.

5. I haven’t scheduled any $45 million ego driven military parades. As A) I have no military history, and B) I’m not a North Korean dictator.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”

Click HERE to follow The Non-Consumer Advocate on Instagram.
Click HERE to join The Non-Consumer Advocate Facebook group.

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